Social Influence

• CONFORMITY

  The tendency to change what we do, think or say in responce to the influence of real or imaged pressure from others
• 3 TYPES OF CONFORMITY

  • Identification - to want to be percieved to go along (temporary change)

  • compliance - to appear to agree with others, whilst disagreeing in private

  • Internalisation - to agree with others both in private and public
• 2 EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMTIY

  Normative social influence - wish to be liked by the majority group, so we just go along with them even though we dont agree

  Informational social influence - when we look to the majority group for info as we are unsure about the way in which to behave
• AIM OF ASCHS LINE EXP

  To investigate the degree to which individuals would conform to a majority who gave obviously wrong answers
• METHOD OF ASCHS LINE EXP

  -123 male US undergraduates in a lab exp and told the study on visual perception

  7 to 9 people sat looking at a display and had to say out loud which one of 3 lines was the same as the given stimulus line

  • All participants except for 1 were confederates who were working for Asch and gave the same incorrect answer on 12/18 critical trials
• FINDINGS OF ASCHS LINE EXP

  37% conformed to the wrong answer on 12 trials

  75% conformed to atleast one wrong answers

  5% conformed to all wrong answers
• CONCLUSION OF ASCHS LINE EXP

  Pps said they conformed to avoid rejection and disapproval, but privately concluded their own judgements.

  Therefore they were influenced by NSI
• 3 SITUATIONAL VARIABLES CONDUCTED BY ASCH

  • task difficulty
  • unanimity
  • group size
• ASCHS LINE EXP: TASK DIFFICULTY

  made the line judging task more difficult to judge the effects.

  Proves ISI as correct answer was less clear and people will look to others for guidence.
• ASCHS EXP: GROUP SIZE

  with one confederate in the group, conformity was 3% whilst with 2 others it was 13% and with 3 others it was 32%
• ASCHS EXP: UNANIMITY

  Conformity rate dropped when majority group dont agree with each other.

  Also found when pp was given support of a confed who had been instructed to give the correct answer throughout, conformity dropped
• STRENGTH OF ASCHS EXP METHODOLOGY

  Used a lab exp and was therefore able to establish cause and effect and show that the size of the group affected how likely it was for a pp to conform.

  HOWEVER, lab exp can be critised for not replicating real life. Conducted in a highly controlled environment and doesnt reflect how conformity affects people in the real world
• LIMITATION OF ASCH EXP: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

  Pps all from USA, an individualistic culture where people are more concerned with themselves rather than the wider social group.

  If such a study was conducted in a more collectivist culture like china, conformity rates may have been higher
• LIMITATION OF ASCHS EXP: ETHICS

  pps were deceived as they were misled about key aspects of procedures such as confederates taking part and not being genuine pps. Lack of informed consent was an issue as pps dont know thr true nature of the study.
• STRENGTH OF NSI: PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  It has been used positivly to influence peoples normative behaviour. e.g. in 2003it was considered normal to smoke as a college student as people felt pressurised to do as their friends were doing. Meant majority of college students were smokers due to NSI. However when students exposed to the message that their peers didn’t, they were subsequenty less likely to stop smoking
• STRENGTH OF ISI: SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

  Lucas asked students to give answersto math problems that were easy or difficult. Greater conformity found to incorrect answers with the more difficult questions, particularly with students who believed their maths ability was poor
• CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

  When an individual adopts a particular behaviour and belief, while in a particular social setting
• WHAT TYPE OF CONFORMITY IS CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

  identification as a person is changing their public behaviour and private beliefs but only while theyre in a particular social role.
• ZIMBARDO SPE EXP PROCEDURE

  21 emotionally stable ales were half randomly allocated to roles of prison guards and the other half to prisoners in a mock prison 

  Social roles were reinforced through uniforms such as a loose smock and cap for prisoners and instructed how to behave (if they wanted to leave they had to apply for parole)
• ZIMBARDOS SPE FINDINGS

  • guards treated prisoners harshly and harrased them constantly e.g. clean toilets with bare hands and pull nettles out of blankets
  • prisoners rebellion failed and they become depressed. The study stopped after 6 days when it was meant to last 2 weeks
• ZIMBARDO SPE CONCLUSION

  • Social roles have a strong influence on behaviour e.g. brutal guards and submissive prisoners
  • Social roles can be easily adopted
• LIMITATION OF ZIMBARDO SFE: POOR GENERALISABILITY

  • The prisoners knew they were taking part in a prison experiment, therefore behvaiour might have been play acting into their stereotype
  • However prisoners found experiment very real and reported how they felt it was a real prison
• LIMITATION OF ZIMBARDOS SPE: ETHICS

  5 pps had psychological breakdowns to a great extent and had to leave exp early. Some also damaged long term and had very negative memories about exp. Zimbardo himself admitted to feeling guilty
• LIMITATION OF ZIMBARDOS SPE: POOR POPULATION VALIDITY

  PPs were male only and therefore gender bias exists. Results cant be generalised to women resulting in experiment not having real world application. PPs also all young americans which is an individualistic society therefore cant be generalised to collectivist cultures
• BENEFIT OF ZIMBARDOS SPE: METHODOLOGY

  Controlled key variables by allocating roles randomly. Removed individual characteristsis making the pps more likely to conform to social roles. Therefore can be confident that behaviour changes were down to the role.
• STRENGTH OF ZIMBARDOS REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS:


  reserach led to changes in how a prison guard can act and changed the expectations for people in this role, leading to advancements in them providing an environment for rehabilitation. Therefore, when doing a cost benefit analysis it can be argued the experiment is credible and was worthwhile due its real life application in these terms
• What was milgram interested in when investigating obedience:


  Interested in the apparant contradiction between the ordinariness of men involved in war crimes during WW2. Their defence was that they were carrying out orders
• OBEDIENCE:


  A type of social influence from an authority figure which causes a person to act in responce to an order they have given
• AIMS OF MILGRAMS EXPERIMENT:

  investigating the power of an authority figure and find out if ordinary people would obey the demands of an authority figure, even if the demans were morally wrong
• PROCEDURE OF MILGRAMS EXP:


  lab experiment at Yale university

  volunteer sample of 40 male pps, age 20 to 50 and paid $4.50

  Pp was always the teacher. Two confederates where one was the learner and one was the experimenter

  The learner gave wrong answers and revealed fake shocks starting at 15V and going up in 15s until 450V

  learner was in a differet room and pounded on the wll after the 300V

  • prods given to pp of: please continue, the experiment requires you to continue, its absolutely essential that you continue, you have no other choice you must continue.
• FINDINGS OF MILGRAMS EXP:

  65% of pps continued all the way to 450V,

  12.5% stopped at 300V
• CONCLUSION OF MILGRAMS EXP:


  Ordinary people will obey authority even when they know what they are doing is wrong, so it isnt just evil people who commit evil crimes, but ordinary people who are obeying orders
• STRENGTH OF MILGRAMS METHODOLOGY:


  It was controlled. Milgram controlled other variables such as whether pp could see effects of shock; all pps given standardised instructions if they hesitated; electric shocks all labeled and increased in 15v increments. Means DV could be measure more accuratley and make more valid conclsuions.
• STRENGTH OF REPLICATIONS OF MILGRAMS EXP:

  Sheridan and kings found pps gave a real shock to a puppy; 54% of males and 100% of females delivered fatal shocks. However, in Milgrams study the tape recordings were naalysed and found that many pps voiced concerns of shocks being fake. Shows pps could have been showing demand characteristics. Undermimes findings
• LIMITATION OF ETHICS OF MILGRAMS EXP:


  Decieved pps by making them beleive electric shocks were real

  Difficult to withdraw as they recieved prompts whenever they expressee a wish to withdraw

  Not protected from harm as they belieevd they may have hurt and possibly killed someone. Emotionally distressing

  Therefore milgram can be discredited
• MORE SUPPORTING EVIDENCE OF MILGRAMS EXP:


  Bickman tested the ecologocial validity by conducting a study in a more realistic setting. Researchers gave direct reqests to 153 randomly selected pps in Brooklyn, New york. Reserachers either dressed in guard uniforms, milkman uniforms or civilian clothing. Found that individuals obeyed guard uniforms more